Homemade Aged Pizza dough is an amazingly easy thing to make at home and it freezes well so adding a few dough balls into the freezer makes meal planning even easier. If you are not familiar with aged pizza dough or aged dough for that matter, it is a process of simply allowing your dough to sit for anywhere from 24 hours to a week in the fridge or on the counter to develop a beautiful flavor in the dough.
All the ingredients for the dough are the same and the only change from regular pizza dough and aged pizza dough is the aging process. It is really fun to do, especially when you see it growing in the refrigerator (you see that dough is actually alive)!
I like to make a double batch of this aged pizza dough and freeze them. When I am ready to make pizza, I just take two discs out of the freezer the night before and let it thaw slowly overnight int he refrigerator.
My family is really big on homemade pizza night at home and we grill most of our pizzas outside! It is so delicious this way! I will be working on a post for that soon so you know how easy it is.
Another way to use this aged dough is to use it as Italian Biga, an Italian starter sponge for Italian breads like ciabatta. In fact, this pizza dough recipe is the same as the Biga recipe I use, since both are aged doughs.
I hope you give this a try and see how easy homemade pizza dough is to make. It’s also so much more economical and healthy!
Aged Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 3/4 cup plus 4 teaspoons water preferably bottled spring water at room temperature
- 2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or a high gluten flour
- Vegetable oil for the bowl
Instructions
- Stir the yeast into the warm water and let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
- Stir the remaining water into the creamy yeast mixture, and then stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time. If mixing by hand, stir with a wooden spoon for 3 to 4 minutes. If mixing with a stand mixer, beat with the paddle at the lowest speed for 2 minutes. If mixing with a food processor, mix just until a sticky dough forms.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at cool room temperature for 24 hours, until the dough is triple its original volume but is still wet and sticky.
- If using right away, divide the dough into two sections by cutting it in half with a knife.
- On a well floured surface, roll your dough out to desired size. Alternatively, you can skip the rolling and gently hand stretch your pizza dough to desired size.
- Add your toppings and bake based on your desired pizza recipe
Notes
Freezing the pizza dough: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in freezer. To thaw, place in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to use, let it rest at room temperature for about 3 hours until it is bubbly and active again.)
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